Begin with this prayer:

O come, Emmanuel, the Lord of the heavens and all that I can see. I sit with You right now. I quiet my heart to listen to you. As I run the race you’ve set before me today, help me to look towards you who authored and are perfecting my faith. Teach my humble heart to hear You. I want to be captive to You only.

• Read these verses aloud several times or listen to the audio recording several times:

Psalm 120

A song of ascents.

1 I call on the Lord in my distress, and He answers me.

2 Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

3 What will he do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue?

4 He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush.

5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar!

6 Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. 7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

• Today, what are you calling on the Lord for? On a separate piece of paper, write out a prayer to Him.

Let’s Begin With This Prayer:

O come, Emmanuel, the Lord of the heavens and all that I can see. I sit with You right now. I quiet my heart to listen to you. As I run the race you’ve set before me today, help me to look towards you who authored and are perfecting my faith. Teach my humble heart to hear You. I want to be captive to You only.

Psalm 120

A song of ascents.

1 I call on the Lord in my distress, and He answers me.
2 Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

3 What will he do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue?
4 He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush.

5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar!
6 Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

• On a separate piece of paper, write out the (above) psalm.

As we finish up the series in Acts, let’s return to Paul’s final words from Isaiah in Acts chapter 28:

“‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’

• Pray for our time together this morning with the following:

Father, I pray that we would be a body that desires to hear and understand.

I pray that we would be a people of God who sees and perceives.

Please make our hearts soft and moldable.

Show us where we need to turn towards you and give us courage to do that. Heal us.

As we end this week, I wanted to send along the links for the books that we visited this week:

Philemon:

Phillipians:

Romans:

We will pop into a final book today, the book of Romans. Paul longed to visit the Christians in Rome and sent this letter ahead of himself.

It’s a beauty in the sense of its rich doctrine and understanding. It’s a beast for those same reasons! A deep read for sure- but well worth the effort.

• Read Romans 12:9-21

KNOW (What does the text say about God?)

BE (What does the text say about us?)

DO (What is the text calling me/us to do?)

• What pops out to you as something the Lord is encouraging you with today?

We will journey today to the book of Philippians. Paul is thanking them for sending a gift to him during his imprisonment in Rome. Having just read about that in Acts, it seemed good to pop over here!

Paul, as always, also writes to encourage them in their faith, stand strong in persecution, and respond with a joyful heart. This is amazing encouragement from someone who’s been falsely accused, imprisoned, shipwrecked, and beaten.

• Read Philippians 1: 1-11

Reflect on the following questions:

• What is Paul praying for them?
• Who could you pray this prayer for?
• What do we learn about God’s character from these verses?

Read aloud verses 9-11, pray this for yourself and those around you.

• Read Acts 28

It seems appropriate that this recording of Paul’s life and ministry would end this way- with him preaching the good news. He sought out the Jewish leaders on purpose to talk so that they would hear from him about faith in Jesus.

Paul’s warning from the Prophet Isaiah is sobering.

• Where do you see, in yourself, tendencies to not understand or perceive what God is doing in you?
• Do you see, in yourself, areas of callousness?

Stop and pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show you areas where you need to turn and be healed.